I’ve heard a repeated phrase these last few days: “a debt of honour” with reference to the decision to bring almost 20,000 Afghan nationals to the UK after a “data breach” may have revealed to the Taliban that they worked with UK forces. It is said that “they helped us”, and therefore we owe them a huge debt.
No. This is a very odd way of looking at it, and typical of the way the liberal West views the world, a world in which only we have agency and only we are responsible for all the ills. Here is the truth: they were not helping us, we were helping them!
At the cost of £40 billion and almost 500 British lives, we spent 20 years – together with the Americans whose cash-and-casualty cost was many times higher – attempting to help Afghans liberate themselves from the Taliban and fundamentalist Islam.
To be blunt, it was their country and their future. If after two decades, and billions of dollars and pounds of allied money, logistical and administrative support, and military assistance, they could not secure their country and transform it, then frankly, is there anything else we can do or should have to do? They failure was ultimately theirs, not ours. It was obvious from the start that sooner or later, the British and Americans would have to leave.
These people who worked ‘for’ – I prefer the term ‘with’ – us, would only have done so for one of two reasons: (1) they genuinely believed that Afghanistan needed to transform into a more liberal and democratic state, where women were educated and not treated as chattel, where people weren’t stoned to death for a range of religious crimes, and so on; or (2) they were simply mercenaries, offering their services to those willing to pay.
If they were the former, it is regrettable that the Taliban clawed back power, but any revolution comes with risks. The French Resistance, for example, knew and accepted the risks. The Allies supported them, but they did not worked “for” the Allies, they worked for their country. It was their duty to put their lives on the line to save France, just as any Afghan who opposed the Taliban ought to have done so with all their heart. But if they were the latter – mere mercenaries – well, that too has many risks.
But I can’t help looking at the photos of those arriving in the UK and thinking to myself: do these people look like liberal modernisers with an alternative view of Afghanistan to that of the Taliban?
I fear the answer is no. No they don’t. I see men and boys in western-style dress, surrounded by girls covered ankle to neck in fabric; I see women in burqas or niqabs walking several paces behind the menfolk. I wonder what social attitudes they will have to gender equality, gay rights, Jews, Christians, and other faiths, unbelievers (and blasphemers), and freedom of speech. Just how ready are they to integrate into mainstream UK life? Or will they move into the growing Islamic ghettos we have or form new one? Twenty thousand people is a new medium-sized town the size of Dorchester, Stroud, or Sevenoaks.
Another potential issue no one seems to want to confront is going to be the children or the 2nd generation of these new Afghan arrivals who will grow up, fueled by the hard Left narratives, believing that they were “betrayed” by Britain, and uprooted from their homeland. They will not be grateful they are here – this is something they will take for granted – and instead will be resentful and angry. This will translate into radicalism and possibly terrorism. If this seems far-fetched, consider that ambulance-chasing lefty lawyers are already putting such ideas out in an effort to persuade these refugees to sue the British government.
The only antidote to this is to stop the pearl-clutching and point out – as I said – we were in Afghanistan to help them get rid of the Taliban. We were helping them, they were not helping us; they were working with us. That it all went pear-shaped despite our best efforts has costs and consequences for everyone. It is not our sole responsibility. Afghanistan is not our country. The fact that the Taliban slipped so easily back into power the second Joe Biden ordered the last US plane out of Kabul makes me seriously doubt the commitment of the Afghan people to transforming their country, rather than simply taking the Allies for granted and viewing us as a endless gravy train.
If they were ideologically committed to transforming their country, rather than mercenary, then I expect them to stay and fight. They should take to the hills and caves. That is what the Taliban did. And if they cannot match the ideological commitment of the Taliban, then they cannot hope to beat them. Sadly, the answer for every groups around the world opposed to their own government should not be to relocate to the UK!
I would feel differently if the refugees smuggled in by our government were modern, liberal, democratic-minded people yearning for freedom and ready to embrace our secular way of life. But from the images I’ve seen of these arrivals, I honestly can’t distinguish them from the Taliban themselves. If this perception is mistaken, then our government must do more to introduce us to these newcomers. We the public have a right to know who our government has invited to live among us.
